Cops: Nervous Man Caught ‘Red-Handed’ With Stolen Printer

EVANSTON, Ill. (STMW) — A 38-year-old West Ridge neighborhood man has been charged with burglary after police found him, fidgety and nervous, walking around with a printer in north suburban Evanston early Tuesday.

Evanston police were on routine patrol about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 600 block of Howard Street when an officer noticed a man carrying a large white box, according to a release from police.

When the man saw the officer, he immediately switched directions. The officer confronted him and noticed he was extremely nervous, shaking and fidgety.

The man — identified as Christopher Childress of the 7500 block of N. Ridge Ave. in Chicago — was found to be in possession of a metallic pipe used to smoke drugs, the release said. Officers arrested him for unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

In the course of the investigation, officers asked Childress how he had acquired the white box, which held a binding and laminating printer. The questioning connected Childress to the burglary of a vehicle parked in the 200 block of Custer Avenue.

Police contacted the owner of the vehicle, who said the printer had been taken from the rear of his Dodge van, which was parked unsecured on Custer.

Childress was charged with one felony count of burglary to a motor vehicle and one misdemeanor count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

He is being held at the Cook County Jail on $30,000 bond for the present charges, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s website.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office also said he was ordered held without bond for probation violation for a previous drug possession charge.